Anyone else given up on having car in garage for practical reasons? - Page 2

[Eman'smom]

I struggle with this, we have a 2 car garage, but live in an area without basements or attics so the garage is the only storage we have. However I keep thinking what is in the garage that is more valuable than our cars?

[LilMama23]

We have never once parked in our garage. In addition to bike & box storage, our garage is our messy art area - we have a little table with three chairs and a four-drawer plastic container with all kinds of art supplies. DD & I can sit in the garage with the door open, using natural sunlight to light our craft projects that we make. It's great!

[boheime]

We have a one car garage which really isn't conducive to parking in. It is narrow and too short. While we can technically park either the Van (Grand Caravan, so it's longer) or the Charger in there, it is really tight and a pain to get in and out. Instead, we have limited storage in there and bikes, scooters, outside toys, tools, etc.

[sinsaratea]

There are some really creative ideas in here about how to use the garage!

I do agree about my car being valuable, but I also feel like having order in my home is valuable too! There's just no GOOD place to have the cat boxes... our laundry room is also a half bath and we can only fit one box in there. But there are 6 cats in the house now! If we had a basement, they would be there.

Keep the ideas coming!

[MommytoTwo]

We have never gotten a car into ours and never will. We have a 2 car garage but half is converted into a room, so its really a 1 car. Between the washer/dryer, the freezer, the extra fridge, the lawn mower, the tools, the lawn equipment, blah blah. It'll never happen. In FL we dont have basements so the garage is really it for storage.

[roxemama]

I have never parked our car in the garage. It's a 2 car garage and sure it's "suppose" to be that way but for us it doesn't make since. We do not have an attic, basement or shed so it serves as a storage area. We use it for bikes, baby stuff, holiday stuff and DH tools and gear. He did hang up 2 large shelves from the ceiling which has clear up alot of space. It's very common in FL Not to park your car in the garage but of course we do not have snow either.

[Caneel]

Growing up, we had a 4 car garage that was stuffed FULL of clutter. Not only were there 4 stalls, there was storage in the rafters and plenty of room along the back and sides.

Not being able to park her car inside was a HUGE issue for my mother. Like clockwork, there was a fall clean out (oh what painful times those were!) when my dad would freak out and start shuffling things.

We do park in the garage. It is one of DH's "things", since we have a garage, cars are to be parked in it. I like it as the garage is his space to clean organized and having the cars inside motivates him to keep it reasonably clutter free.

I don't think there is anything wrong with using a garage for hobbies or other useful purposes.

[DanaDane]

We managed to park one car in a two-car garage. We didnt have a lot of stuff, but what we did have was large (bike, very large grill, etc).

[juliasmum]

We have a two car garage that is organized and could easily fit at least one car, but we don't park either car in the garage right now. The BBQ grill is in there and gets pulled out in the driveway to grill when we need it, the bikes and lawn mower are in there as well. The kids use the space to play and much of the time we park the cars on the street to where the driveway is blocked off (people tend to turn around in our driveway a lot, and this keeps them from doing that while the kids are playing). Our kiddie pools get stored there in the summer too.

We keep lawn chairs in there set up too so we can sit and watch the kids play. Our backyard gets so muddy after it rains, plus we find we like the front because we tend to interact with the neighbors more often than if we just play in the backyard.

I've also found that my car tends to get more cluttered when I leave it in the garage because I can always "run right out and get what I need" from it (which doesn't happen, it just gets cluttered). But if I park in the driveway I tend to keep everything in a bag and carry it from the house to the car each time we go somewhere.

This winter we might push everything to the side and park in the garage, at least when it is going to snow, but not sure. It might be nice to have the space for the kids to ride bikes and skate in there.

[ZoeyZoo]

Recently I started parking my car in the driveway. This was mostly practicality though because our driveway is really narrow and angled very close to the house. I don't have any wiggle room with a second car parked in there. I was afraid I would run into the house.

[Tangled Hill]

Hubby is a gamer (role playing games) and an artist, and he uses the garage for his weekend games and for large paintings. That's fine with me. My parents never parked their cars in the garage, so it wasn't something I grew up thinking was normal. Also, I prefer to have hubby's gamer buddies in the garage, anyway.

[inkslinger]

We don't have a garage now, but when we eventually get our own home with a garage I don't think we'll use it for cars. Most people around here don't park cars in garages. We don't get snow, and there are no basements or attics here so there aren't a lot of storage options! My parents converted their garage into a craft/playroom for the grandkids, I assume we will do something similar.

[JessicaTX]

We have a two car garage that is the music/exercise/library/gaming area. My son has a garage band so his drumset, a piano and about 5 guitars of various sorts are in there with a computer and mic set up for his recording area. There's a weight machine and a gliderythingymahoozit for exercise, 3 bookshelves, a couch, 3 chairs a tv, and a kitchen table for messy arts and crafts that I don't want in the house. There's no room for a car in there :P

[notjustmamie]

Not even an option here. When the temperatures get down to the 30 below zero in the winter, there's nothing more valuable than keeping the car inside the garage.

[aiccerb]

We have no atic or basement...we NEED the storage space of the garage!!